As soon as Lara obtained Paimon’s obedience, Vassago appeared.
Unlike Paimon, Vassago did not appear in front of her, nor could he even get out of hell yet. But despite that, he could still use his followers to exert this much influence. Honestly, Lara was amazed at the black sorcerer’s strategy in gathering the excommunicated priests to make them demon worshippers and to drive the saintess’ public image into that of a witch.
After leaving the Imperial Palace, Lara returned to the temple and went straight down to the underground maze. She walked toward the place with the two God statues.
The old and gloomy underground maze suddenly became bright and pleasant. The new lamp shone consistently and the wind blew finely. The stone walls that had collapsed in several places were cleaned up and several doors were installed in the open hallway. It was a collaboration between Konny and Valentine. The then dungeon-like maze was becoming a cozy hideout.
After passing through several hallways, Lara entered the room with the God statue. Her God was looking her way, perhaps he had expected that she would come. The gaze Lara felt was clear.
Between the two statues, Lara said to the benevolent God statue, which depicted paradise.
“Should we write a prophecy too?”
<For what?>
“It’s kind of disgusting. Let’s make something much more plausible than this and spread it around, but rather than in the human realm, let’s spread it around in hell. The era of the great demon lord who will chew and swallow you competent demons in one bite will come. So just wait and calmly rinse out your throat …”
The more Lara grumbled, the smaller the shaking occurred in Abraxas’ gaze. He seemed to be smiling.
“Why are you smiling?”
Even Lara’s voice was filled with a hint of a smile.
“Have you gained a lot of karma?”
Lara asked. She sounded like a private loan shark who came to find the money she had entrusted. God could not erase the smile from his voice again this time.
<Is there anything you want?>
Lara’s gaze, which was facing the God statue, went slightly down and stayed on the paper containing the demon’s prophecy.
‘Demon lord will ascend’
It was probably referring to Demian, a candidate for the demon lord on the ground. And the witch of greed, revolt and rebellion, who inherits the power of the demon, would have been a reference to Lara herself.
“Abraxas.”
<I’m listening.>
Lara lifted her red eyes and looked alternately at the two God statues and the murals painted behind them.
“I want the truth.”
Lara’s voice had a low echo. Perhaps because she was in an underground space, and perhaps her voice was subdued to hide the trembling.
“Am I really a saintess?”
Lara briefly swallowed her breath and closed her eyes before asking God.
“Am I really the vicegerent for your God side, and not the vicegerent for your demon side?”
<Lara.>
“Tell me.”
Abraxas was a God, but he was also a demon. Perhaps he was the God of demons. Or he could be an illusion created by humans. He defined himself as a ‘forgotten God’ and Lara did not miss it.
“God is someone who should be fair to the world. When you fell in love with the saintess so much that the balance of the world tilted, you told me that you created the demon lord to correct the tilted weight of the world.”
Lara ruminated over and over the story, and she had one question.
According to the records, the saintesses had always been hunted by demons every time. Therefore, the first saintess who Abraxas loved would have also fallen prey to the demon lord. And after the death of the saintess, it was only right for the world to regain its balance, and the second and third saintesses would not have been needed.
However, the saintesses continued to be born and were continuously hunted time and time again. What was the reason? Lara long pondered to find the answer.
“I suddenly thought of this. You…may have changed their fate to avenge the demon lord and the world who killed the saintess you loved.”
Lara’s voice had no hesitation. God was silent.
“Those who were born with their fate as saintesses were called demon lords and those born with their fate as demon lords were called saintesses. You killed them over and over again so that the tragedy that happened to the first saintess kept repeating itself with the victim and perpetrator reversed…”
Perhaps the grieving God forgot his duty and continued his selfish revenge against the will of the world.
“Isn’t it you who desperately need a vicegerent, and not the demons? Because now they could not ascend or exert influence directly as they used to.”
<Lara.>
“So, tell me. Now that you have enough karma to tell me the truth. Am I the saintess of God or the saintess of the demon? If not…”
This was the reason she cherished and cherished the karma she got from Lilith and Paimon. Lara wanted the truth. She wanted to hear the secrets of the world directly from God.
<You’re…>
A subtle light leaked from the two God statues that symbolized Abraxas. Lara heard the voice of God, feeling that the two God statues were looking at her at the same time.
<The last saintess.>
The first saintess was born with a mission to guide humans to paradise. But she monopolized God’s love for her and lost her heart to the hands of the demon lord.
The God who lost the saintess fell into immeasurable grief. He tried to fight against the will of the world to find back the saintess and he tried to abandon his position as God to get the saintess back.
God was going mad, he was drowning in sorrow. The world without the saintess meant nothing to him. As God’s heart left, the world began to die little by little. Fairies ceased to exist, magic disappeared, and the power of God that surrounded the world was taken away.
Hell was getting closer. The sneaky demons noticed that the human realm they were looking for was just around the corner. This was their opportunity. The demons, who had been trapped in hell for hundreds of years, had a desire to someday climb into God's realm. But they first had to conquer the human realm, the bridgehead to the God’s realm.
The demons first created demon worshippers using black sorcerers. They brainwashed and dominated humans, colored their souls dirty and ugly. Thus, the will of the world was forced to create a fake saintess to correct the balance on behalf of the crazy God.
Among humans, those with outstanding faith were chosen. They could have made a miracle happen, and they had long been called saints or saintesses and fought with demon worshippers.
And all of them failed.
As Lara said, God came to be angry with the actions of the will of the world. And so he took a part of his body and made the demon lord to punish the fake saintess.
“Please tell me.”
Lara asked.
“Am I a saintess chosen by you, or am I another scapegoat made by the will of the world?”
God said.
<You were made by the will of the world. A sacrifice, made to appease me.>
A great sadness of unknown depth flowed from within him. Lara realized that she was the last saintess created by the will of the world to appease the crazy God.
“Show me.”
Lara’s voice was slightly cracked. She softly held the God statue’s hand. As God looked at her through the statue, she told him.
“The first saintess.”
Suddenly, Lara's vision was mixed up. She felt as if she was floating, as though her body had fallen and was sinking into deep water. Lara noticed that Abraxas wanted to show her memories of the first saintess. So she relaxed her shoulders and left her body to him.
A temple made of white bricks could be seen on a beautiful hill. The roof was as blue as the clear sky and a bell rang clear from a tall tower. It was a mystical place. Water with silver glitters fell from the empty air and fairies were sliding in it, flowers that forgot the season were in full bloom, and a translucent lion of God attended the saintess.
The first saintess lived in a house created by God, looking only at beautiful and pretty things.
It was a familiar place. Lara noticed that it was the sanctum she often visited. It was so magnificent and beautiful at the time when God and the first saintess stayed. But now, only traces remain.
The first saintess was playing with the fairies, she looked back.
“Abraxas.”
Her light brown hair was gently curled. Her hair was a color that looked like it had been torn from wet wood. As the wind blew and gently swayed her hair, fragrant petals fluttered and fell from her hair. Her red lips smelled like peaches, and her sweet scarlet eyes suppressed deep affection.
It was a feeling far from a devotion towards a God. The first saintess had the same face as Lara, and she truly loved God.
“Where are you going?”
The saintess got off from the fairies and approached Abraxas. He said.
“The Gods keep whining so I think I will have to go up for a while. I have been staying in this world for so long that it’s gotten noisy up there–in many ways.”
“Do I have to wait long?”
“I will be back soon.”
The first saintess nodded. But Lara did not believe Abraxas.
“I’m going to miss you.”
“Me too.”
The saintess had a foreboding of a long wait.
“Come back safely.”
“Sure.”
“I will wait here.”
The first saintess slightly raised her head. God’s appearance was reflected in her clear scarlet eyes.
The vision came to that length. After returning to reality, Lara held her breath for a moment before saying.
“So you could not come back. Because the saintess died while you ascended to the God realm.”
God did not answer.
“Did you think that if you made me look like her, you would treat me like her and prevent the destruction?”
There was still no answer from God.
Now she got it. Lara, who should have been born as a demon lord, appeared with the face of the saintess and was given the role of bringing the mad God back to sanity. In the process, she had to die once. After returning to the past, she was determined to save the world and jumped into such a dangerous path.
Despite all this being done by God and that damned will of the world, the innocent saintesses still worshiped them and have continued to die.
“Demian…”
Tears welled up in Lara’s eyes.
“Because he’s your other self, he has no choice but to love me.”
<Lara, he…>
“That’s why he has the same face as you. Tell me. Would Demian have loved me even if he was not your other self? Even when I came back to the past and met him again, he said he fell in love with me as soon as he saw me. It was the same in my previous life, too. He said he could not resist it… like it was fate.”
Tears fell down her face. Lara saw Abraxas’ face reflected in the eyes of the saintess in the vision.
Pale skin, hair as black as the night sky, blue shining eyes, and wickedly red lips.
It was Demian.
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